The menorah shall be made of hammered work: [meaning] that it must not be made in sections, [which can be removed]. Its branches and its lamps should not be made individually and then attached, as is the custom of the smiths [through a process] called solderez [in French], soldering, but it [the menorah] must come [be constructed] entirely from one piece [of gold]-beaten with a hammer and cut with a tool, and the branches separated on both sides. — [from Baraitha Melecheth HaMishkan.]

of hammered work: Heb. מִקְשָׁה. Its Aramaic translation is נְגִיד, an expression of drawing out, [meaning] that he draws the parts out of the block of gold on either side by beating [it] with a hammer. The word מִקְשָׁה means the blow of a hammer, batediz in Old French, hammered, like “knocked (נָקְשָׁן) one against the other” (Dan. 5:6).

the menorah shall be made: By itself. Since Moses found difficulty with it [i.e., figuring out how to form the menorah], the Holy One, blessed is He, said to him, “Cast the talent [equivalent to sixty-four pounds of gold] into the fire, and it will be made by itself.” Therefore, it is not written: ךְתֵּעָשֶׂה but ךְתֵּיעָשֶׂה. -[from Tan. Beha’alothecha 3]

and its stem: [This refers to] its central stem rising from the middle of the base, erected upward. At the top of it was the middle lamp, made like a spoon, into which the oil was poured and the wick inserted.

its goblets: They are a sort of cups made of glass, long and narrow, which are called maderins [in Old French], long, slender glass goblets. These, however, were made of gold, and they protruded from every branch according to the number prescribed by the text. They were [placed] on it [the menorah] only for beauty.

its knobs: [They were] like sort of round apples all around [the branch], protruding [outward] around the middle branch, in the style of the menoroth that are made for princes. They are called pomeles [in French], apple-shaped knobs (Men. 28b). Their number is prescribed in this parsha, [i.e.,] how many knobs protruded from it and how much [space] was [left] unadorned between one knob and another knob.

coming out of its sides: from here and there [in each direction] diagonally, drawn upwards until [they reached] the height of the menorah, which is the middle stem. They came out of the middle stem, one higher than the others: the bottom one was longest, the one above it was shorter than it, and the highest one shorter than that, because the height of their ends [at their tops] was equal to the height of the seventh, middle stem, out of which the six branches extended.

decorated: Heb. מְשֻׁקָּדִים, as the Targum [Onkelos] renders מְצַיְירִין. They were decorated in the manner that silver and gold vessels are made, which is called nieler [in Old French, nieller in modern French, niello in English].

And on [the stem of] the menorah [shall be] four… goblets: On the main stem of the menorah were four goblets: one protruding on it below the branches and three above the exit of the three branches that extended outwards from its sides.

decorated…its knobs and its flowers: This is one of the five verses whose meaning cannot be determined. It is unknown whether [to read] “decorated goblets” or “decorated its knobs and its flowers."-[from Yoma 52b]

And a knob under the two branches: From the knob, the branches extended from its two sides in either direction. This is what we learned in the [Baraitha] Melecheth HaMishkan [ch. 10, Men. 28b, 29a]: The height of the menorah was eighteen handbreadths. [This total is arrived at as follows:] The feet [of the menorah] and the [lowest] flower were three handbreadths. That is the flower mentioned in connection with the base, as it is said: “to its base, to its flower” (Num. 8:4). Then two handbreadths [above this were] unadorned, and a handbreadth [above that] in which [there] was a goblet-[namely one] of the four goblets [mentioned in verse 34]-and a knob and a flower of the two knobs and the two flowers mentioned in connection with the menorah itself, as it is said [on verse 34]: “decorated…its knobs and its flowers.” We learn that on the main stem there were two knobs and two flowers, in addition to the three knobs from which the branches extended, as it is said [here]: “And a knob under the two branches.” And [above the lowest branches were] two handbreadths unadorned, and a handbreadth with a knob and two branches coming out of it on either side, extending upward, opposite the height of the menorah, and one handbreadth unadorned, and a handbreadth with a knob and two branches coming out of it, and one handbreadth unadorned, and a handbreadth with a knob and two branches coming out of it, extending upward, opposite the height of the menorah, and two handbreadths unadorned. [Hence,] three handbreadths remain, in which there were three goblets, a knob, and a flower. The goblets were found to number twenty-two: eighteen for the six branches [of the menorah]-three for each one-and four on the menorah itself, totaling twenty-two. And [there were] eleven knobs-six on the six branches [one on each branch], three on the menorah itself, from which the branches extended, and two more on the menorah, as it is said [in verse 34]: “decorated…its knobs,” [which means two knobs] since the minimum of [the plural] “knobs” is two. One [knob was] below, next to the base, and one in the top three handbreadths [together] with the three goblets. And it [the menorah] had nine flowers: six on the six branches [one on each branch] as it is said [in verse 33]: “on one branch, [there was] a knob and a flower,” and three [flowers] on the menorah [itself], as it is said [here], "decorated…its knobs and its flowers"-the minimum of [the plural] “flowers” is two, and one [additional flower is] mentioned in the parsha Beha’alothecha: “to its base to its flower” (Num. 8:4). If you carefully study this Mishnah that is written above, you will find them [the decorations of the menorah] according to their number, each one in its place. — [from Men. 28b]

its lamps: [They were] sort of cups into which the oil and the wicks were put.

את נרתיה: כמין בזיכין שנותנין בתוכם השמן והפתילות:

[so that they] shed light toward its face: [Namely,] make the openings of the six lamps [which were] at the top of the branches that extend from of its [the menorah’s] sides, turned toward the middle one, so that when the lamps were lit they would shed light עֵבֶר פָּנֶיהָ, towards [or in the direction of] its face. Their light should be turned towards the face of the middle branch, which is the body of the menorah.

And its tongs: Heb. וּמַלְקָחֶיהָ. They are the tongs made to take the wicks from the oil, to set them in place and to draw them into the mouths of the lamps. Since they [are used for] taking (לוֹקְחִים) [the wicks] with them, they are called מֶלְקָחַיִם, a pair of “takers.” [The Aramaic word] וְצִבְיָתָהָא, which Onkelos renders [for וּמַלְקָחֶיהָ], is a term related to צְבַת, tenailles in French, tongs.

and its scoops: Heb. וּמַחְךְתֹּתֶיהָ. They are a kind of small cup with which he [the kohen] would scoop the ashes that are in the lamp every morning when he [the kohen] cleaned the lamps from the ashes of the wicks that burned during the night and were [now] extinguished. The word מַחְךְתָּה is [the equivalent of] poseydure [or poysedure] in Old French, a little shovel [or] ash pan, like “to scoop (לַחְךְתּוֹת) fire from a hearth” (Isa. 30:14).

a talent pure gold: Heb. כִּכַּר.[This means] that its weight along with all its implements shall be nothing but a talent, no less and no more. The talent used for mundane matters was sixty maneh, and the one used for holy matters was double, thus one hundred twenty maneh (Bech. 5a). The maneh is the litra with which silver is weighed according to the weight used in Cologne, which is the equivalent of one hundred gold pieces [or] twenty-five selas, for the sela is equivalent to four gold pieces. [This is the equivalent of sixty-four pounds.]

40Now see and make according to their pattern, which you are shown on the mountain.

מוּרְאֵ֖ה וַֽעֲשֵׂ֑ה בְּתַ֨בְנִיתָ֔ם אֲשֶׁר־אַתָּ֥ה מָרְאֶ֖ה בָּהָֽר:

Now see and make: See here on the mountain the pattern that I am showing you. [This] informs us that Moses had difficulties with the construction of the menorah, until the Holy One, blessed is He, showed him a [model] menorah of fire. -[from Men. 29a]

which you are shown: Heb. אִשֶׁר-אַךְתָּה מָרְאֶה, as the Targum [Onkelos] renders: דִי אַךְתְּ מִתְחַזֵי, which you are shown. If it were punctuated מַרְאֶה with a “pattach,” it would mean that you show others. Now that it is punctuated with a short “kamatz,” it means that you are shown, that others show you, (for the punctuation distinguishes between the active and the passive).

of twisted fine linen, and blue, purple, and crimson wool: Thus there are four kinds [of material] together in each thread, one of linen and three of wool, and each thread was doubled six times. Thus, four kinds [of material], when they are twisted together, yield twenty-four strands to a thread. — [from Baraitha Melecheth HaMishkan, ch. 2, Yoma 71b]

A cherubim design of the work of a master weaver: Cherubim were drawn on them [the curtains] in their weave; not with embroidery, which is needlework, but with weaving on both sides, one face from here [one side] and one face from there [the other side]: a lion from this side and an eagle from that side, as silk girdles, called feysses in Old French, are woven. — [from Yoma 72b]

shall be joined: He [Bezalel] would sew them with a needle, one [curtain] alongside the other, five separately and [the other] five separately.

תהיין חוברות: תופרן במחט זו בצד זו, חמש לבד וחמש לבד:

to one another: Heb. אִשָׁה אֶל-אִחֹתָהּ, lit., a woman to her sister. It is customary for Scripture to speak this way concerning a noun in the feminine gender, and concerning a noun in the masculine gender, אִישׁ אֶל-אָחִיו [lit., a man to his brother], as it is said concerning the cherubim: אִישׁ אֶל-אָחִיו (Exod. 25:20).

loops: Heb. לֻלָאֹת, lazoles in Old French, loops. So did Onkelos render [it]: עִנוּבִין, a term meaning a bow.

ללאת: לצול"ש בלעז [שרוכים] וכן תרגם אונקלוס ענובין, לשון עניבה:

curtain [that is] at the edge of the [first] set: Heb. בַּחֹבָרֶת. On the curtain that is the outermost of the set. The group of five curtains is called חוֹבֶרֶת.

מקצה בחברת: באותה יריעה שבסוף החבור, קבוצת חמשת היריעות קרויה חוברת:

and so shall you do on the edge of the outermost curtain of the second set: On that curtain that is the outermost (הַקִּצוֹנָה), an expression derived from קָצֶה, end, meaning at the end of the set [of curtains].

the loops shall correspond to one another: Heb. מַקְבִּילֹתהַלֻּלָאֹת. Make sure that you make the loops exactly equidistant from one another. Their measure on this curtain should be the same for its mate. When you spread one set [of curtains] next to the other set, the loops of this curtain shall line up exactly opposite the loops of the other [curtain]. This is the [meaning of the] word מַקְבִּילֹת, [i.e.,] this one opposite that one. The Aramaic translation of נֶגֶד, opposite, is לָקֳבֵל. [Each] curtain was twenty-eight [cubits] long and four [cubits] wide. When five curtains were joined together, it was found that [altogether] they were twenty [cubits] wide, and so [too] with the second set. The length of the Mishkan was thirty [cubits] from east to west, as it is said: “twenty planks for the southern side” (verse 18), and so for the north, [with] every plank a cubit and a half [wide]. Thus, [we have altogether] thirty [cubits] from east to west. The width of the Mishkan from north to south was ten cubits, as it is said: “And for the western end of the Mishkan [you shall make six planks]” (verse 22), and [thus with] two planks at the corners [i.e., one plank at each end of the western wall], we have ten. [I.e., the interior of the Mishkan was ten cubits wide, not counting the northern and southern walls, which were each one cubit thick. Hence, the remainder of the two corner planks that do not fit against the side planks is a half cubit each, equaling one cubit. The six planks along the western side total nine cubits, thus we have altogether ten cubits on the western side.] In their [respective] places, I will explain these verses. The curtains were placed [so that] their length [was across] the [interior] width of the Mishkan, ten [of the curtains’] middle cubits as the roof of the space of the width of the Mishkan. [Another] cubit from here and a cubit from there covered the thickness of the tops of the planks, whose width was a cubit thick. Thus remained sixteen cubits: eight on the north[ern side] and eight on the south[ern side], covering the height of the planks, which were ten [cubits] high. [Thus] the bottom two cubits were exposed. The curtains were forty cubits wide when they were joined-twenty cubits for each set. Thirty of them [of the forty cubits] were for the roof of the Mishkan’s [interior] space lengthwise; one cubit corresponded to the thickness of the ends of the planks on the [Mishkan’s] west[ern side] and one cubit [was meant] to cover the thickness of the pillars on the east[ern side]-for there were no planks on the [Mishkan’s] east[ern side], only four (Old Rashi-five) pillars upon whose hooks the screen was spread and hung, like a curtain. [Aside from the above two cubits,] there remained eight cubits that hung in the back of the Mishkan on the west[ern side], with the bottom two cubits uncovered. I found this in the Baraitha of Forty-Nine Middoth. However, in Tractate Shabbath (98b) [it is stated]: The curtains did not cover the eastern pillars, and nine cubits hung in the back of the Mishkan. The text supports us [in our quotation of the Talmud, for the Torah states]: “And you shall place the dividing curtain beneath the clasps” (verse 33), but if [the truth is] like the words of this Baraitha, [it would mean that] the dividing curtain would be found to be drawn back one cubit to the west of the clasps.

golden clasps: Heb. קַרְסֵי, fermeylz, fermels, fermails in Old French, [meaning] hooks, clasps. One of its ends is inserted into [one of] the loops of this [one] set [of curtains] and the other end into the loops of the [second] set [of curtains, thus] fastening them [the loops] with them [the clasps].

thirty cubits: For when [Moses] placed their [the curtains’] length across the width of the Mishkan, as he did with the first [set of curtains], these were found to exceed [and overhang them] by a cubit from here [on one side] and a cubit from there [on the other side] to cover one of the two cubits of the planks that remained exposed. The bottom cubit of the plank, which the curtain did not cover, was the cubit [that was] inserted into the socket hole, for the sockets were a cubit deep. — [from Shab. 98b]

and you shall fold the sixth curtain: [I.e.,] of these upper curtains, which exceeds [overhangs] the lower ones.

וכפלת את היריעה הששית: העודפת באלו העליונות יותר מן התחתונות:

before the front of the tent: Half its width [of the sixth curtain] was hanging and folded over the screen on the east[ern side of the Mishkan], before the entrance, resembling a modest bride whose face is covered with a veil.

And the overhanging excess in the curtains of the tent: over the curtains of the Mishkan. The curtains of the tent were the upper ones, [curtains] of goat hair. [They are] referred to as “tent,” as it is written about them, “for a tent over the Mishkan” (verse 7). Every expression of “tent” (אֹהֶל) stated in their context [i.e., referring to the upper curtains] is only an expression meaning a roof, for they form a tent and a roof over the lower [curtains]. They [the upper curtains] exceeded the lower ones by half a curtain on the west[ern side], since half of the extra eleventh curtain was folded opposite the front of the tent. [Hence,] there remained two cubits, [representing] the width of half of it [the upper curtains], exceeding the width of the lower [curtains].

shall hang over the rear of the Mishkan: to cover the two cubits of the planks that were exposed.

תסרח על אחרי המשכן: לכסות שתי אמות שהיו מגולות בקרשים:

the rear of the Mishkan: This means the western side, since the entrance [to the Mishkan] was on the east[ern side], which is [referred to as] its front, and the north[ern] and south[ern sides] are referred to as sides to the right and to the left.

And the cubit from here and the cubit from there: on the north[ern] and on the south[ern] sides of the Mishkan].

והאמה מזה והאמה מזה: לצפון ולדרום:

of the excess in the length of the curtains of the tent: which exceed the length of the lower curtains of the Mishkan by two cubits.

בעדף בארך יריעות האהל: שהן עודפות על אורך יריעות המשכן שתי אמות:

shall hang over the sides of the Mishkan: [I.e.,] on the northern and southern [sides], as I explained above [verse 12]. The Torah taught [us] manners, that one should spare the beautiful. — [from an unknown midrashic source, also quoted by Yalkut Shimoni 422]

a covering for the tent: For the roof of goat hair curtains, make an additional covering of ram skins dyed red. Additionally, above it [place] a covering of tachash skins. These [two] coverings covered only the roof, their length being thirty [cubits] and their width ten. These are Rabbi Nehemiah’s words, but according to Rabbi Judah, there was [only] one cover, half of [it made from] ram skins dyed red and half of [it made from] tachash skins. -[from Shab. 28a]